MALAYSIA saw a significant improvement in media ranking by moving 22 spots to the 123rd place in Reporters Without Borders’ 2019 World Press Freedom Index.

The country’s score reduced by 10.67 points to 36.74, representing an improvement in press freedom.

It also emerged as one of the two countries, with the other being Maldives, which saw strong improvements in terms of media freedom in Asia Pacific.

The drastic hike is credited to the change of government in the May 2018 general election.

“In this difficult environment, the 22-place rise registered by both Malaysia (123rd) and Maldives (98th) highlights the degree to which political change can radically transform the climate for journalists, and how a country’s political ecosystem can directly affect press freedom,” said Reporters Without Borders in a statement today.

Malaysia also came out ahead of most of its Southeast Asian peers but only behind Timor Leste, which was placed at 84th in the index that ranked 180 countries based on their press freedom.

“Press freedom is receiving breath of fresh air in Malaysia after (former) prime minister Najib Razak’s ruling coalition suffered a surprising defeat in the May 2019 general elections – its first defeat in modern Malaysian history.

“Journalists and media outlets that had been blacklisted, such as the cartoonist Zunar and the Sarawak Report investigative news website, have been able to resume working without fear of harassment.”

Indonesia trailed at 124, followed by The Philippines (134), Thailand (136), Myanmar (138), Cambodia (143), Singapore (151), Brunei (152), Laos (171) and Vietnam (176).

The report said self-censorship among journalists have declined dramatically and the print media are now offering a fuller and more balanced coverage as well as a range of viewpoints including support for both the current government led by Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and the former ruling coalition, Barisan Nasional, which is now the opposition.

The report said Dr Mahathir has also kept to his promise of repealing the Orwellian provisions of the anti-fake news law.

On April 9, Mahathir said the government will stand firm in its decision to repeal the Anti-Fake News Act as the country can do without such a law for now.

While Dewan Rakyat has passed a bill to repeal the law, Dewan Negara has refused to follow through and has sent the bill back to the lower house.

Reporters Without Borders also said the government still has an arsenal of draconian laws that could suppress press freedom.

The host of stringent laws include the Sedition Act, the Official Secrets Act and the Communication and Multimedia Act.

Reporters Without Borders, which is also known as Reporters Sans Frontieres, said these laws need a complete overhaul as authorities will still be able to utilise it to exercise control over the press.

“Under these laws, which need a complete overhaul, the authorities have strict control over publication licences and journalists can be sentenced to 20 years in prison on sedition charges. They pose a constant threat to media personnel, who still cannot express themselves with complete freedom, despite all the progress.”

The 2019 ranking also marks a significant improvement for Malaysia, which was ranked 145th in 2013 and 2018, 147th in 2014 and 2015, 146th in 2016 and 144th in 2017.

The Paris-based watchdog said it takes a lot of courage for journalists to work in Asian countries where democracies are struggling to resists various forms of disinformation.

“With totalitarian propaganda, censorship, intimidation, physical violence, and cyber harassment, a lot of courage is needed to work independently as a journalist in the Asia-Pacific countries where democracies are struggling to resist various form of disinformation.”

Scandinavian countries emerged as the leaders of the index with Norway being ranked at No.1 followed by Finland and Sweden.

Eriteria, North Korea and Turkmenistan completed the bottom three at 178,179 and 180 respectively.

The annual index evaluates the state of journalism in 180 countries and territories every year.

Scores and rankings are based on the level of pluralism, media independence, the environment for the media and self-censorship, the legal framework, transparency, and the quality of the infrastructure that supports the production of news and information. – AFP, April 18, 2019.